Saving lives means happy days for Anson Williams

As one of the most popular shows on television for a decade, “Happy Days” helped propel many of its cast into the production side of show business. Ron Howard, Henry Winkler, Don Most, and Anson Williams all achieved recognition behind the camera as producers, directors, and/or writers.

Williams, who played Potsie – a naïve, well-meaning friend to Ron Howard’s Richie Cunningham character – partly credits the show’s producer and writer for motivation.

“I had such an education because of Garry Marshall who inspired us to broaden our horizons,” said Williams from Los Angeles.

Happy Days cast. Anson Willliams, top right(Photo: ABC)

Later becoming a successful TV director (“Seaquest DSV,” “Melrose Place,” “Lizzie McGuire”), Williams also branched out into the business world. “With my business partner JoAnna Connell, we developed dozens of products which sold on QVC for a decade.”

He’s especially gratified with a new product, available since June, called Alert Drops – a simple spray that can prevent drowsy drivers from falling asleep behind the wheel.

“It’s a common but often neglected problem across the country,” explained Williams. In fact, a 2017 article from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration cites a report from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety estimating some 6,000 drowsy-driving related fatalities occur each year across the United States, with many more injured (see www.nhtsa.gov).

“Just a spray of Alert Drops on the top of the tongue produces a reflex reaction that causes the body to release a burst of adrenaline and you’re instantly awake.”

Williams experienced the dangers of drowsy-driving back in the late 80s while working on the Slap Maxwell series.

“After a rough day directing in the hot Palmdale desert, I was driving home and suddenly found myself bouncing around in the car off the road. I’d fallen asleep and was extremely lucky I didn’t kill myself. It scared the heck out of me.”

He later recounted the incident to his ‘uncle,’ a physician, who suggested packing slices of lemon to bite into while driving, to counter drowsiness.

“I did that for years and it worked, but who wants to suck on messy lemons when driving?” he asked with a laugh. “I called Uncle Hank to see if the same effect could be achieved by putting the lemon ingredients in a spray bottle. He said that was a brilliant idea.”

While the ingredients are listed on William’s web site (www.alertdrops.com), he says “we did work with a chemist for two years to get the concentrations right. And honestly, you don’t have to buy our product if you’re prepared to keep lemons in your car. Alert Drops is just a lot more convenient and has a harder hit of citric acid to be even more effective.”

Williams says thousands sold in the first month. “We’re saving lives every day, which is very satisfying. I even heard it saved the life of (MASH star) Loretta Swit’s best friend!”

But let’s backtrack to Uncle Hank who, it turns out, was Dr. Henry Heimlich – yes, of the anti-choking Heimlich Maneuver fame. “He was actually my second cousin, but I always called him uncle. He passed away just last year.”

In fact, Williams says he first helped raise public awareness for the famous doctor’s maneuver in the 70s.

“I was rehearsing ‘Happy Days’ and Uncle Hank was visiting the set. When a guest suddenly dropped out from the Merv Griffin Show, they invited me on as a replacement. I told the staff about Dr. Heimlich, who was in the audience, and Merv invited him up to demonstrate. Then Johnny Carson put him on his show and the world soon learned about the Heimlich Maneuver.”

Back in the 70s and early 80s, the world quickly became aware of the “Happy Days” phenomenon, too. Initially, however, it was almost shelved when the pilot was recycled by ABC as an episode of “Love American Style.”

“It was actually a pilot first, but didn’t sell,” notes Williams. “When ‘American Graffiti’ came out (in 1973) and was so popular, ABC re-shot another pilot more like ‘Graffiti’ and changed some of the cast. Harold Gould was Mr. Cunningham in the original but was unavailable so Tom Bosley replaced him. Don Most tried out for Potsie but they liked him so much they created a new character (Ralph) for him. And they replaced the girl who played my sister with Erin Moran, who I had just worked with in a TV movie, ‘Lisa, Bright and Dark.’ I suggested they bring her in to read for the part, which she got.”

Although Williams’ Potsie started as a cool guy, the writers gave the character a personality transplant. “Potsie was initially an instigator for Ron’s character, getting him into trouble in a nice way. But then Fonzie got hot. Garry told me he wanted to make Potsie more of a foot getting stuck in mouth comic character.”

Ron Howard and Anson Williams in the first Happy Days episode, 1974(Photo: ABC)

Williams was still appearing in “Happy Days” when he was inspired to produce a TV movie.

“I was driving passed the back of the Burbank airport and saw this funky old plane. There was a guy working on the engine and a kid in a wheelchair helping him. I thought instead of always looking up at the world from a wheelchair, what if the kid could learn to fly and look down on the world for the first time?”

The result was “Skyward,” co-written and co-produced by Williams who brought in Ron Howard in one of his earliest directing roles. The pair pitched the NBC bosses.

“They wanted Melissa Sue Anderson to play the girl in the wheelchair, but we thought that was hypocritical. We wanted to star a disabled actress in the role and had Suzy Barbieri in mind, even though she had never acted before. We were told if we could sign a big star like Bette Davis, we could use Suzy.”

Not long after, Williams saw Davis as a guest on Johnny Carson’s show.

“She was complaining of playing old ladies and wanted something with action, so I immediately thought the role of Billie, the stunt pilot, would be perfect and sent her the script.”

Davis, who personally read all scripts that came her way, accepted. But her reputation for being difficult turned out to be no exaggeration, according to Williams.

“She was 72, and Ron and I looked like we were still teenagers. She said ‘You’re all babies!’ And poor Howard Hesseman who loved to improvise in scenes, like many of us do. Bette Davis would scream at him ‘That’s not in the script!’ She was great in the role and I respected her as a performer and it was a thrill to work with her, but she was not a fun person to be around. Nevertheless, we did everything to make her comfortable, including rigging up a portable air-conditioning system that would follow her around on the hot location set (in Texas). It was this film that really started my career behind the camera.”

Whether his successes have been assisted by plain old good luck or destiny played a hand, Williams remains appreciative for his opportunities.

“I left home when I was 18 with just $100 and made it into show business. To get on a hit show like ‘Happy Days,’ then become a director, and to have an ‘uncle’ like Dr. Heimlich who inspired me to create a life-saving product – what are the chances of all that happening?”

At the same time, he stresses “You can’t wait around for success to come to you – you have to make your own destiny and sometimes it’s a hard road. Entertainment and making people laugh are great, but to help save lives, what greater purpose is there in life? That’s Dr. Heimlich’s legacy, and I feel sure Alert Drops will likewise continue to save lives.”

Nick Thomas teaches at Auburn University at Montgomery, Ala, and has written features, columns, and interviews for over 650 newspapers and magazines. See www.tinseltowntalks.com